James Dean Bradfield: I was racking my brains last night, I was trying to think of a cover version that is better [than the original]. Nirvana did a great unplugged cover...Nicky Wire:The Man Who Sold The World.James Dean Bradfield: Yeah because, yeah because, obviously it's a Bowie track but Lulu's version of it is pretty bad. Nicky Wire: I like Lulu's version of it!

“[Publicly wishing AIDS on Michael Stipe] didn't come out the way I wanted it to. I just wanted to demystify the whole rock 'n' roll...experience. David Bowie was going down on one knee saying the Lord's Prayer [at the Freddie Mercury Tribute/AIDS Charity Concert]...I dunno, everyone had had these decadent lives but now you must behave yourselves...and with Philip [Hall, MSP manager] having cancer, it was just all a big fuck-up. A disastrous moment in history. It's Philip's fault, he told me to do it: 'Go on, Wire: say it!' The mad bastard...”

“I’d like to do something with Goldfrapp…Can’t stop listening to their record at the moment…Sexiest record ever…Not for those reasons, but I think they’re really good…David Bowie, maybe…Think James [Dean Bradfield] would like to do something with someone like Tony Bennett…some sort of AOR crooner…”

"I think Bowie for us really, in terms of our love...well, for me definitely '77 to '81. Post-that and pre-that I can't say I'm a big fan really, but from Low through "Heroes" to Scary Monsters and The Lodger [sic]...Those were the influences were were after, Sound + Vision and stuff like that."

"The White Stripes - I just don't get that at all. When they say, 'We recorded the whole album in two days,' it's like, yeah it sounds like it - it sounds fucking crap because you recorded it in a second.

"And Jet, Jet are so bad. Their music has the mental age of a foetus.

"I think it's too easy to make good music. There are so many idiots out there who've got rigs and computers in their bedroom who are making unbelievably average music that sounds quite good - it's not a healthy thing.

"From David Bowie to U2 you have to know when its time to evolve - if you don't, you die, like dodos you become extinct. You have to know when to stop and get out. I think we'll know when it's time to stop."

"I think the best thing I can say about [the album Know Your Enemy] is not to expect anything from it, 'cause we don't expect anything from fans. But there's a mixture of all our influences, very much like a David Bowie sort of Pin Ups type album. There's lots of references to a lot of the things that we used to listen to when we were young. And then there's references going back to earlier albums, we just wanted to touch base again and find some sort of reality within ourselves."

"It's just the idea of turning on the radio and hearing something so glorious, it doesn't always need to have great lyrical weight. Which is something I've always believed in, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm very precious about words but... it's obviously the idea that I think in the 80's, for us, all our favourite alternative bands, shall we say alternative, could still come up with absolute pop classics. You know, New Order could, Echo & The Bunnymen could, The Cure could, stuff that my Mum would like. They didn't know anything about the band... "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus & Mary Chain. And I think that's lost now. You're either alternative or you're pop. You know, and that bridge, say David Bowie with "Ashes To Ashes," that just crosses every border. It's the coolest record on earth and yet it sold millions and millions to anybody."